The men of the Shippensburg University track-and-field team competed at the Bison Outdoor Challenge at Bucknell University over the weekend, and three athletes also went to the Mondschein Multis on Thursday and Friday at Kutztown University.
The Mondschein Multis is a decathlon competition and three Raiders represented SU at the event. David Brantley put on an impressive performance over the two days and led his teammates with a total score of 5,679 points, good enough to finish 12th. Brantley set new PRs in the 110-meter hurdles (16.11 seconds) and the discus (92 feet, 6 inches).
Also competing were Danny Meyer and Matthew Merritt. Meyer posted a score of 5,414 points to finish not too far behind Brantley. Merritt put in a great effort, scoring 4,775 points. Both Meyer and Merritt were impressive in the pole vault, reaching heights of 11 feet, 10 3/4 inches, and 11 feet, 3 inches, respectively.
The rest of the team performed at the Bison Challenge. There were many NCAA provisional qualifiers over the two-day event. An event that has been strong for the Raiders is the high jump. The impressive performances continued with Jalen Ramsey finishing first and Tra-C Davis finishing third. The field included multiple Division I competition, which made the two efforts even more impressive. Ramsey is only the fourth jumper in Division II to clear 6 feet, 11 1/2 inches.
Dominic Stroh posted a PR that was four seconds better than his previous best in the 1,500 meters. The time of 3:50.75 was good enough for an NCAA provisional qualifier. Connor Holm also put up an impressive 3:56.71 in the same event and he earned a new collegiate best.
The throwers put on a show once again, with Bryan Pearson and Alec Rideout performing the best in the discus. Pearson had an NCAA-provisional throw of 171 feet, 7 inches, to place third and Rideout reached 158 feet, 8 inches, to take eighth.
The javelin throwers performed well with Derek Nothstein taking second with 213 feet, 10 inches, and Ben Hurda taking fourth with 205 feet, 7 inches. Both marks were good enough to be NCAA-provisional qualifiers.
There was an equal number of strong showings on the second day of competition. Athletes on both the track and the field put in their best efforts. There were nine Top 8 finishes for SU on Day 2.
Chris Craig continued his hot streak, taking first in the 200 meters with an NCAA-provisional run of 21.46 seconds. The 400 meters was also a top event for the Raiders, with Kier Miner taking second with a time of 47.81 seconds for another NCAA provisional mark. Miner’s time was within a half of a second of the school record time for the event.
Two Raiders finished in the Top 6 in the 3K race. Harrison Schettler finished in 8:38.20 to take third and Connor Holm finished in 8:48.21 to take sixth in the event. The 400-meter hurdles yielded another NCAA-provisional mark from Austin Shupp, who finished second in 53.05 seconds. The team of Shupp, Craig, Calvin Dennis and Dreux Stamford took first in 41.48 seconds in the 4x100 relay.
Pearson performed well on the second day as well, taking second in the shot put and fifth in the hammer. He reached 56 feet, 6 1/2 inches, in the shot put and 191 feet, 2 inches, in the hammer. Both throws were NCAA-provisional marks. Caleb Bartlett excelled in the hammer once again, placing third with an NCAA-provisional throw of 198 feet, 10 inches.
For the first time in the 2017 outdoor season, the Raiders will come home and host the SU Track and Field Invitational tomorrow at Seth Grove Stadium starting at 3 p.m. The Raiders will have their first weekend off of the outdoor season this weekend.
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